I'm going to C2E2 tomorrow, the comic convention heir to a massive and devoted group of attendees who, for years, suffered the indiginities of trudging out to the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont for Wizard World.

One of the most closely-guarded secrets in recent Chicago memory was revealed today when Punk Planet founder Dan Sinker outed himself to the Atlantic as the voice behind the brilliant mayoremanuel Twitter handle.

Remember Dan's name: by the time you're done reading this, he'll probably have scored both a publishing contract with Simon & Schuster and development deal with HBO. Deservedly so, I might add.

As mentioned in an earlier entry, I've decided to self-publish a collection of my music-related writings. As of today, that book officially has a name: Off the Record Collection: Riffs, Rants, and Writings about Rock.

I haven't watched professional wrestling since 1985. I was a high school sophomore at that point, and my social life was screaming for me to grow out of it and move forward.

Up until then, I had been a hardcore fan. My friends and I made frequent trips to the UIC Pavilion to see monthly AWA cards featuring superstars like The Fabulous Freebirds, the Road Warriors, George "The Animal" Steele, Baron von Raschke, and Jesse "The Body" Ventura. We made posters, we bought the programs, and we loved every minute.

I was pretty aware of the fact that everything I saw was pure theater, but that didn't bug me. It was like watching comic book heroes and villains come to life, only bloodier.

You may recall that my efforts to publish a book about Chicago Music in the 1990s were met with failure: profound, hard-to-contest, failure. I just couldn't pull it off, and that fact left me quietly sulking for the past two years.

I'm not interested in going back to that well anytime soon, but I've been anxious to do something. That anxiety compelled me to gather a book's worth of my music-related writings into a formatted manuscript. After a few months' worth of effort, I'm sitting on an all-new volume of material, framed by fresh commentary and observations. I plan to publish it before June.

When the Appellate Court yanked Rahm from the ballot last week, a friend of mine was outraged. "That's bullshit!" he said. "He's the best man for the job.""Why's that?" I asked, not necessarily disagreeing, but wanting to hear the answer."He just is. He's gotta get back on. I can't imagine what would happen to the city if he doesn't."

I took the opportunity to remind my friend that, as worked up as he was, he wasn't even allowed to vote in the mayoral election. "Why's that," he asked, "because I don't live in Cook County?" "That's part of it," I said. "More specifically, you don't actually live inChicago."

I had a blast last night. CHIRP put together an absolutely stellar, top-flight, event, and I was honored to be part of it.

There wasn't a dud performance on the bill. Everybody on stage positively killed. I'm still chuckling about Robbie Fulks' tale of wandering the East Coast while waiting for his van to get fixed.

Extra credit goes to Steve Frisbie, Liam Davis, and Gerald Dowd for learning, mastering, and rocking each performer's song choice. I especially loved what they did with my selection, "Is Your Love Strong Enough," by Bryan Ferry.

Last month, I was invited to speak at CHIRP Radio's "First Time: First Car" event at Schubas.

As explained on the Schubas site:

<<The First Time is CHIRP's reading series that combines the written
word and music. Local musicians/performers/writers write and read an
original piece based on a "first time" theme. This month, we're
featuring "First Car." The piece will reference a specific artist or
piece of music, and immediately following, a live band will perform the
aforementioned song. This is a benefit for the Chicago Independent
Radio Project.

Also featuring Steve Frisbie, Liam Davis and Gerald Dowd playing live accompaniments to each piece.>>

There's a bookshelf inside my local Metra terminal that's used for book sharing. The idea's simple: Read a book, then pass it on.

I'd rifled through the books before and never found anything worth a second glance; Harlequin romance novels, old textbooks, and outdated self-help books half-lined the shelves. Nice idea, just nothing there worth picking up.

There are plenty of people out there who insist that it is, and do so with conviction. This week, I learned that, for some, discovering that the word in question is actually sherbet (pronounced "sure bet") is a "there's no Santa Claus"-level, shock to the system.

Urban Dictionary defines sherbert "How dumbfucks spell sherbet," going as far as to use it in the sentence "It's SHERBET, not SHERBERT, dumbfuck."

The Damned Things didn't play at Q101's Twisted 2010 show on Sunday night, due to awful weather which kept 1/3 of the band from being able to make it into Chicago on time.

The rest of the band managed to make it to the House of Blues, and I got to interview them backstage before doors opened to the public. Note that a properly-mixed and shot version of this video, produced by Q101, is expected later this week. (Update 12/17/10-My video interview didn't make it to Q101.com)

Of particular interest to Anthrax fans is the (brief) discussion of the "Big 4" tour, which Scott Ian deftly avoided with a smile.

The party's start time was a relatively early 6 p.m., which left my friends and I at a loss for things to do in between the time our office closed and the party started. Staying at the office wasn't an option. Our solution? Go off-campus and bet on the ponies.